Thirty-five-year-old Lakshmi always wanted to buy a home in Chennai. She has been looking for 3 BHK apartments with all amenities, including groundwater, security, gym and park, for the past two years. Lakshmi, who works for a private company from home, has spent many of her weekly offs visiting new constructions in places like George Town, Triplicane, Royapettah, Vadapalani and Velachery. However, she was not satisfied with any of the properties since her area of preference kept changing post the floods or based on groundwater availability in summer. However, now once and for all, her preference to buy a home has shifted to independent homes in the city’s peripheral areas.
Like Lakshmi, many Chennai residents have changed their preference in recent times, post the COVID-19 lockdown. From dreaming of buying an apartment with decent Undivided Share (UDS), property consultants and real estate agents say they observed a change in the inclination of homebuyers to individual and spacious homes in peripheral areas due to the extended work-from-home options.
In Chennai, real estate, unlike other sectors, fared well even during the lockdown. The sector reportedly registered a decent growth post the lockdown. Talking to TNM, Sanjay Chugh, City Head – Chennai, Anarock Property Consultants, said, “Interestingly, residential real estate defied all odds – including the impact of COVID-19 – and registered decent growth (both new launches and housing sales) post the lockdown period.”
“In fact, growing homeownership sentiment amidst COVID-19 like exigencies, further accelerated by offers and discounts from developers and lowest-best home loan rates, led many prospective homebuyers to take the plunge,” he added.
In terms of market sales, Sanjay said, “The last two quarters of CY 2020 witnessed QoQ jump in both new launches and housing sales in Chennai. As per Anarock Research, the October-December period saw a 54% growth in housing sales in Chennai compared to the previous quarter, while new launches jumped up by a whopping 153% during the same period.”
Expressing a similar view, a senior consultant with Hanu Reddy Realty said, “Even though the first few months of the lockdown recorded nil sales, the sector started to show profits once the lockdown was relaxed.”
“We’ve started getting several requests from people of all sections, especially for homes within the Rs 1-1.5 crore budget. We hope we’ll record good growth this year especially since we expect a scattered growth,” said the senior analyst, who sought anonymity.
The real estate consultants and agents observed that more people are ready to move to peripheral areas unlike before because of the extended work-from-home options. The new trend is also viewed as positive sign among realty sector workers since it leads to plotted development and provides space for new demand in the city.
A senior realtor with Hanu Reddy Realty said, “Chennai residents prefer to purchase villas more than apartments, especially post the lockdown period. The focus right now lies in areas including East Coast Road, GST Road and Tambaram. There are more developers coming up with new projects.”
Meanwhile, Sanjay said, “With work-from-home becoming a viable option even after the lockdown, several future homebuyers are looking to shift to the peripheral areas for bigger homes and a better lifestyle – at more affordable prices. While sufficient supply currently exists in most of the peripheries, this new demand will eventually also dictate fresh supply. In Chennai, OMR, Avadi, Guduvancheri dominate buyer preference.”
Accordingly, the fresh demand has also led to new housing projects in the peripheral areas as well.
On Saturday, the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) announced plans to sell housing plots in the suburban areas of Chennai, including Ponneri, Manali, Padi near Anna Nagar, and Mullai Nagar near Tambaram. TNHB also has plans for a project with 160 housing plots near Paranur toll plaza at Chengalpet.
“Contrary to the trends in the last few years, preference for plotted developments has surged once again. In the last 4-5 months, key developers in the city have launched different plotted development projects comprising greater than 1,000 units. Trends indicate that the corresponding period in 2019 didn’t see nearly as many plotted development projects as 2020,” Sanjay said.